Point72 Asset Management to Launch $1bn Hedge Fund Focused on AI Investments

Steve Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management is set to launch a new hedge fund dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI), targeting an ambitious $1bn in capital. This will mark the firm’s first new hedge fund in many years, according to a report from Bloomberg.

The new fund will specialise in both long and short positions in AI hardware and semiconductor companies on a global scale. Point72 currently manages a primary hedge fund and several venture capital funds, but this new strategy represents a significant shift in its approach to emerging technologies.

Expected to launch by the end of 2024 or early 2025, the AI-focused fund will be led by portfolio manager Eric Sanchez. It will attract investments from external investors, Point72 employees, and Steve Cohen himself, who will also play a prominent oversight role. Unlike the firm’s existing market-neutral fund, this new venture will adopt a more flexible investment strategy, potentially including longer-term positions that diverge from Point72’s usual approach.

Point72 has previously demonstrated its commitment to AI with the 2021 launch of its private equity fund, Hyperscale, which leverages AI to streamline acquisitions. Additionally, in 2016, the firm established Point72 Ventures to invest Cohen’s capital in early-stage technology companies. In an April 2024 CNBC interview, Cohen emphasised that AI would transform business operations, suggesting the potential for significant cost savings and highlighting the vast opportunities and risks, comparing the AI boom to the tech boom of the 1990s.